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Post by Briar on Oct 31, 2021 22:35:19 GMT -6
In retrospect, much as he hated to think so, it might have been a stroke of luck that his previous masters were the soft sort of rich folk who had little interest in raising monsters. It hadn’t turned out well for Yeo-reum because of it, but at least Yeo-reum had gotten free in the end; it would have been worse, Briar thought, to have had his old friend turned into a finely tuned weapon, and possibly sicced upon him when the time came, or at their masters' whim.
Still, ruminating on these matters wouldn’t accomplish anything, and in the meantime there was work to do. Briar was, in his way, not unglad for it. Even if the circumstances were not what he would have wished, he liked the act of gardening in and of itself, and it was a familiar thing to him now, having done it for many long years.
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Post by Briar on Oct 31, 2021 22:35:44 GMT -6
This was not his garden -- the one he had thought of as his, which he equally expected to never see again, back at the estate that he had grown up in -- and that took a little of the joy out of it, but the plants here had done nothing wrong. Even if they did belong to Noa.
Many gardeners wore gloves, but Briar didn’t. He never had, at first because his masters hadn’t wanted to bother with the expense of equipping him, and then later because he had grown used to it, and it felt foreign not to be able to feel the leaves and roots and dirt with his own roughened fingertips. He had donned work clothes, to put himself in a better working state of mind if nothing else, before he had headed out to the garden.Now he surveyed the plants, to see which might need his attention.
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Post by Briar on Oct 31, 2021 22:35:54 GMT -6
Yeo-reum was a watchful presence somewhere behind him, the Tat-lung’s reluctance having simmered to a resignation colored with resentment, and now he had taken it upon himself to watch Briar’s back, as much to have something to do as anything else. He could have left; Briar had tried to give him the option, and despite the awkwardness of their current state of communication, he thought he had gotten the message across, more or less. But Yeo-reum would not go if Briar did not go with him, and Briar would not go until he had found what he was looking for here, in Gracehaven. And so Yeo-reum stayed, and guarded Briar, fool though the Sprite was for staying in such a place.
They were unlikely to be attacked in the garden, especially when Briar was only doing his job here -- the job that he had been given by Noa, no less.
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Post by Briar on Oct 31, 2021 22:36:20 GMT -6
It was a shame that the garden was so out of the way from any place that might provide any real useful hints regarding the boy that Briar was looking for. He recalled that the boy had never left the tower, at least in all the time that Briar had known him, and even if there was information to be found on his fate and whereabouts elsewhere in the estate, it was hardly going to be sitting around in the garden shed. There was always the off chance, and so Briar had looked around for documents or secret compartments the first day he was given run of the place, but his search wasn’t very fruitful. Presumably there had been other gardeners before the staff had all been fired or spirited away, and presumably the ones who had been in charge back then hadn’t trusted those gardeners with their secrets either.
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Post by Briar on Oct 31, 2021 22:36:33 GMT -6
But on the other hand, it meant that the gardens were also a place away from the pressures of what he was doing. It was, in a lot of ways, as close to a sanctuary as Briar had while still on the grounds. His room, small and suffocating as it was with its oppressive stone walls and its situation within the main building of the estate, was merely a place he returned to to sleep; and even then, if he had other options available to him, he tended to sleep elsewhere. In the first few weeks of late summer, he had slept almost entirely outside. Now, however, it was too cold, and although the house offered no warmth, at least it was sheltered, and there were blankets.
Briar decided to begin with the medicinal herbs. These were the ones that Noa made the most use of, but even then he didn’t make use of them greatly.
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Post by Briar on Oct 31, 2021 22:38:25 GMT -6
Apparently he had already experimented with them at length, and had reached something of a dead end with what he could achieve with them for the goals that he had had in mind. Now they were generally used for some concoction or another that he needed to treat his own symptoms, when his familiar’s healing wouldn’t suffice, or when they were both out of magical reserves.
The beds were well tended -- in fact, all the beds in the garden were, of the plants that Noa had taken the effort to actually cultivate. Briar had been a little surprised to see it at first, given the fact that he hadn’t seen any other servants here -- or slaves, for that matter. Later he had learned that Noa had given instruction on some of the basic care to the TROD that took care of much of the menial work around the estate.
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Post by Briar on Oct 31, 2021 22:38:38 GMT -6
The rest, Noa did himself, and even on a sporadic basis, this was enough when combined with the TROD’s more consistent efforts to keep things relatively well cared for. As for the TROD… There was little finesse in its work, and he had rarely had the opportunity to observe it, but the amount of work it did was likely that of several humans combined.
It made sense that Noa would prefer this sort of help to living workers. Briar didn’t know much about robots, his previous household having been more old fashioned, but they didn’t need to eat or sleep, and while they had to be maintained, the TROD was apparently made for use as a creature training replacement, and was more durable than most. It made Yeo-reum hostile and uneasy, but many things in this place made Yeo-reum hostile and uneasy, and it was no longer a good litmus test of what to be wary of.
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Post by Nadia on Nov 1, 2021 11:08:43 GMT -6
At least there's something growing here...
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Post by Briar on Nov 20, 2021 23:35:10 GMT -6
But then again, Yeo-reum had perhaps never been a very good litmus test of things to be wary of. Before his treatment at their old masters’ hands had soured his temper and turned him into the angry creature he was now, Yeo-reum had been singularly playful and trusting of everyone he met. It was hard to read emotions in a fish, Briar thought, but even then it had been apparent that the young Yeo-reum was a cheerful creature, and likely thought very little ill of anyone. Now it was much the opposite, perhaps because the shock to his view of the world had been too great, having started from such a place.
Briar spared a glance back at the Tat-lung, who raised his head, sensing Briar’s gaze, and narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t say it, of course, but Briar read the message clearly enough: What are you looking at?
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Post by Briar on Nov 20, 2021 23:35:34 GMT -6
Before he had lost his tongue, Briar would at least have been able to reply to that wordless query. But if he were to give his response now, Yeo-reum would have little understanding of it, beyond the knowledge that Briar was attempting to communicate something. And that knowledge, if anything, would probably have frustrated him further.
But it occurred to Briar that this was a problem that could be remedied. He hadn’t managed it before, since they had been on the run and there were other, more urgent matters on both their minds. But now, after a few weeks in Noa’s employ, Briar had resigned himself to something too -- that his search for the boy he was looking for would likely be the work of months, not days or weeks. And in those months, he could not possibly occupy himself with the search in every minute of every day.
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Post by Briar on Nov 20, 2021 23:36:37 GMT -6
Beyond doing the jobs that he had been assigned by Noa, which was a matter of necessity, a lot of his time would be spent waiting for a good opportunity to arise to investigate the areas he needed to investigate. He had already looked in the places where he was allowed, where access was easy; he didn’t imagine he would find much there, and in general his hunch had been supported. Briar had been ‘the help’ all his life, and he had been in a position of greater trust for most of it; he doubted that Noa would give away his own secrets that easily, much as he might wish it.
In the intervening waiting time, there was room enough to teach Yeo-reum to recognize sign. And despite the Tat-lung’s lack of digits, Briar even thought it might be possible to adapt the signs such that Yeo-reum could communicate back.
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Post by Briar on Nov 20, 2021 23:36:49 GMT -6
That would give the Tat an unprecedented level of ability to convey his own meaning, and that would probably be motivation enough for him to try, if nothing else. Briar already anticipated that the Tat would make more thorough entreaties for Briar to leave this place once he had the ability to phrase himself more directly than through pantomime, but it would be worth it even so.
There was still garden work to be done though. He worked until he had gotten a good way through weeding the herb beds before he straightened, wiping one hand roughly across his brow. Yeo-reum had already lifted his head by the time Briar was making his way toward the Tat-lung, though as Briar approached, he rumbled what was most likely a question. They were friends, but Briar had never really been the type to seek out affection, and now Yeo-reum was no longer of a temperament to try and wheedle or cajole it from him.
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Post by Briar on Nov 20, 2021 23:37:26 GMT -6
If Briar approached, it was for a purpose, and in this case Yeo-reum could not immediately figure out what that purpose was. Briar wished he could explain. That would certainly have made everything easier. But if that were possible, then this wouldn’t be necessary to begin with. Instead, he signed his own name, slowly, and then pointed to himself.
Yeo-reum blinked for a moment, but he was a clever creature -- more clever than humans, so it was said. It didn’t take him long to catch on to what Briart was trying to do. The trouble was, unless Yeo-reum signed back, there was very little way to accurately test for… well, for comprehension. So it was probably just as well that Briar meant to try and help Yeo-reum muddle his way through learning to sign himself too.
To this end, Briar reached out for one of Yeo-reum’s forelegs.
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Post by Briar on Nov 20, 2021 23:37:43 GMT -6
He moved slowly, so that Yeo-reum could see what he was doing and read the direction of his intent, and pull back, if need be. Yeo-reum tensed; he trusted Briar, more or less, but it was still hard for him to be handled. Still, the length of their acquaintance won out, and he did allow Briar to lift one of his claws, and move it into position.
When Briar reached for the other claw, Yeo-reum sighed, and repositioned himself so that his weight rested on his haunches, freeing both forelimbs for use. He shook off Briar’s guiding hands, and made the gesture himself. Briar looked at it consideringly, then made a couple of small corrections so that the orientation of the claws were more accurate. Then, for good measure, he signed his own name again, to show Yeo-reum what it looked like on his own hands one more time.
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Post by Briar on Nov 20, 2021 23:37:57 GMT -6
Yeo-reum signed it back, more precisely this time, and Briar nodded. Then, Yeo-reum pointed to himself. Briar had to think about that one for a moment, as Yeo-reum’s name was not Common, and Briar hadn’t actually had to use it before now. Experimentally he signed through a series of letters, then came up with a faster shorthand that felt more like a name than the long string of signs he had been left with when trying to spell Yeo-reum’s name letter by letter. He showed this sign to Yeo-reum, who had been watching him with much more intent interest than earlier. Briar thought he might even have had some idea of what Briar had been doing.
Briar showed the sign to Yeo-reum again, more slowly, and Yeo-reum signed it back at him. Once more, Briar corrected him slightly, and Yeo-reum repeated the signs until Briar was satisfied.
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